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Priests  as  Pioneers  of 
Discovery  in  Electricity 


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i 


Priests  as  Pioneers  of  Discovery 
in  Electricity. 

^^fr$r 

C L E CT RICA L and  magnetic  phenomena  are 
^ so  surprising  in  themselves,  so  seductive  in 
their  mystery,  and  therefore  so  likely  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  intelligent  observer,  that  it 
might  almost  confidently  be  expected  that  clergy- 
men with  some  leisure  on  their  hands,  who  were 
at  all  interested  in  natural  science,  or  what  we 
would  now  call  nature  study,  would  quite  natur- 
ally, in  the  days  when  little  was  known  about 
electrical  science,  devote  some  time  at  least  to 
the  investigation  of  it.  The  fact  that  the  names 
of  very  few  clergymen  are  known  in  this  con- 
nexion would  seem  to  indicate  that  at  the  time 
when  only  the  curious  things  about  the  as  yet 
unborn  science  of  electricity— the  phenomena  of 
magnetic  attraction  and  repulsion  and  of  elec- 
trical manifestations  after  the  rubbing  of  various 
substances— -were  known,  clergymen  had  but  very 
little  of  intellectual  curiosity  or  zest  for  observa- 
tion and  experiment,  or  else  were  prevented 
from  investigation  of  these  curious  phenomena, 
either  by  direct  prohibition  of  such  studies  to 
churchmen  or  else  by  the  feeling  that  such  studies 
might  be  dangerous  to  their  faith.  The  suppo- 
3 


m t 


9/73 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


sition,  however,  that  clergymen  did  not  investi- 
gate these  very  surprising  manifestations,  I have 
recently  found  while  reading  up  some  of  the 
early  history  of  electricity,  is  entirely  gratuitous 
and  unfounded. 

Not  long  since  I had  occasion  to  go  over 
Priestley’s  History  of  Electricity , published  orig- 
inally just  after  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  it  is  little  short  of  marvellous  to 
find  how  many  Catholic  clergymen  had  made 
important  observations  on  electrical  and  mag- 
netic phenomena  during  the  first  half  of  this 
century,  and  thus  helped  to  bring  a new  science 
into  that  vogue  in  which  it  already  was  when 
Franklin’s  work  was  done.  A brief  list  of  these 
and  their  principal  discoveries  will  make  clear 
what  an  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of 
science  is  here  involved.  Father  Beccaria  in 
Italy  investigated  the  relations  of  electricity  to 
air  and  water.  Abbe  Nollet  in  France  made 
observations  on  the  effects  of  electricity  on  ani- 
mals and  plants.  Abbe  Menon  also  in  France 
made  additional  observations  on  the  effects  of 
electricity  on  animals.  Canon  Von  Kleist  of 
Kammin,  in  North  Germany,  invented  the  Ley- 
den jar.  Professor  Gordon,  a Scotch  Benedic- 
tine monk,  invented  the  first  practical  frictional 
electrical  machine.  Besides  these  there  was 
Father  Prenditz  in  Bohemia,  a Premonstraten- 
sian  monk,  who  suggested  the  identity  of  light- 
ning and  electricity,  apparently  quite  independ- 
ently of  Franklin,  and  almost  at  the  same  time. 

4 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


Then,  before  the  end  of  the  century,  there  was 
x\bbe  Haiiy,  the  father  of  crystallography,  who 
studied  pyro-electricity  successfully,  and  in- 
vented a method  of  preventing-  the  compass 
from  being  improperly  affected  by  iron  or  steel 
in  its  immediate  neighborhood,  which  was  of 
the  greatest  possible  service  to  mariners,  and  is 
indeed  the  basis  of  such  precautionary  provi- 
sions that  are  so  necessary  in  our  iron,  or  rather 
steel,  vessels  of  the  modern  time. 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  an  account  of  the 
discoveries  made  by  these  men,  with  brief 
sketches  of  their  careers  as  far  as  they  are  avail- 
able, would  be  of  interest  to  clergymen  gener- 
ally, for  the  science  of  electricity  has  always 
maintained  its  attractiveness  for  the  Catholic 
clergy.  Besides,  the  materials  thus  gathered 
will  furnish  additional  and  quite  convincing  evi- 
dence of  the  fact  that  there  is  not  and  never  was 
any  opposition  between  science  and  religion,  and 
that  it  is  perfectly  possible  for  a man  to  accept 
all  the  principles  of  religion  on  faith  and  yet 
retain  a mind  perfectly  open  to  all  the  possible 
suggestions  of  experimental  science,  absolutely 
free  to  follow  all  the  avenues  of  investigation 
that  may  suggest  themselves,  quite  untrammeled 
to  accept  such  conclusions  as  may  be  reached  by 
the  experimental  method.  Indeed  it  is  from  the 
history  of  clerical  contributions  to  science  that 
this  absolutely  false  notion  is  best  controverted 
and  shown  to  be  the  result  of  an  intolerant  as- 
sumption on  the  part  of  those  who  protest  so 
5 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


much  against  ecclesiastical  intolerance  with  re- 
gard to  science. 

It  will  be  found  that  all  of  these  clergymen 
who  devoted  themselves  so  successfully  to  the 
study  of  electrical  phenomena  were  distinguished 
for  their  inquiring  disposition,  their  scientific 
temperament  and  painstaking  devotion  to  the 
experimental  method,  so  that  they  were  not 
likely  to  miss  the  significance  of  their  observa- 
tions. Authority  might  mean  much  to  them  in 
the  realm  of  religion,  but  they  knew  no  tram- 
mels in  the  field  of  science,  and  sought  truth  as  the 
result  of  questions  put  to  nature  quite  as  strenu- 
ously as  the  veriest  of  sceptics  in  matters  of  faith. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  electricity  or,  to 
be  more  accurate,  the  phenomena  of  magnetism 
which  were  known  to  the  older  generations  at- 
tracted very  little  attention  until  comparatively 
recent  times.  Franklin’s  excursion  into  the  sub- 
ject here  in  America  is  supposed  to  have  at- 
tracted the  world-wide  attention  that  it  did 
mainly  because  it  was  such  distinctly  original 
and  unusual  work.  It  was  as  if  people  had  not 
thought  of  the  possibility  of  the  development  of 
a science  of  electricity  before  his  epoch-making 
observations  and  investigations.  While  not 
wishing  to  diminish  by  jot  or  tittle  Franklin’s 
well-deserved  glory  in  science,  such  an  impres- 
sion is  completely  erroneous.  Men  were  inter- 
ested in  the  phenomena  of  magnetism  particu- 
larly and  in  certain  electrical  manifestations 
from  very  early  times. 


6 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


The  inquiring  geniuses  who  made  the  thir- 
teenth century  what  it  was  in  the  history  of 
education  had  an  all-pervading  curiosity,  which 
would  not  allow  so  interesting  a subject  as  mag- 
netism and  its  possibilities  to  escape  them. 
Brother  Potamian  summed  up  not  long  since  in 
the  introduction  to  a translation  of  the  famous 
letter  of  Petrus  Peregrinus  on  magnetic  phe- 
nomena, which  was  written  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  a large  number  of  references  to  mag- 
netism which  occur  in  the  literature  of  the  thir- 
teenth century.  A single  paragraph  from  this 
will  serve  to  show  how  widespread  was  the  in- 
terest and  how  much  men  were  occupied  with 
natural  phenomena  at  a time  when  the  study  of 
nature,  according  to  most  of  our  modern  his- 
tories of  education,  is  supposed  to  have  been 
very  far  from  men's  thoughts.  Brother  Pota- 
mian says : 

Abbot  Neckam,  the  Augustinian  (1157-1215),  dis- 
tinguishes between  the  properties  of  the  two  ends  of  the 
lodestone,  and  gives  in  his  De  Utensilibus  what  is,  per- 
haps, the  earliest  reference  to  the  Mariner's  compass 
that  we  have.  Albertus  Magnus,  the  Dominican  (1193- 
1280),  in  his  treatise  De  Mineralibus,  enumerates  differ- 
ent kinds  of  natural  magnets  and  states  some  of  the 
properties  commonly  attributed  to  them.  The  minstrel 
Guyot  de  Provins,  in  a famous  satirical  poem,  written 
about  1208,  refers  to  the  directive  quality  of  the  lode- 
stone  and  its  use  in  navigation ; as  do  also  Cardinal  de 
Vitry,  in  his  Historia  Orientalis  (1215-1220)  ; Brunetto 
Latini,  poet,  orator  and  philosopher,  in  his  Tresor  des 
Sciences , a veritable  library,  written  in  Paris  in  1260 ; 
Raymond  Lully,  the  Enlightened  Doctor,  in  his  treatise 

7 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


De  Contemplatione , begun  in  1272,  and  Guido  Guini- 
celli,  the  poet-priest  of  Bologna,  who  died  in  1276. 1 

It  is  evident  that  most  of  those  who  were  in- 
terested in  magnetic  phenomena  about  the  time 
of  the  beginning  of  the  universities  were  clergy- 
men. Only  one  of  those  mentioned  by  Brother 
Potamian  was  not  an  ecclesiastic.  There  seems 
to  have  been  one  of  these  special  periods  of  in- 
terest in  a definite  department  of  science  in  the 
thirteenth  century  with  regard  to  magnetism. 
One  of  the  great  practical  results  of  this  was  the 
protection  of  the  mariner’s  compass.  After  this 
century,  however,  neglect  came  over  this  depart- 
ment of  magnetism  until  Gilbert’s  time.  He 
was  a contemporary  of  Francis  Bacon,  and  did 
so  much  for  the  science  of  electricity  that  it  was 
never  quite  to  sink  out  of  sight  again.  The 
great  revival  of  history  in  the  subject  came, 
however,  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  then,  as  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
most  important  contributors  to  it  were  once 
more  ecclesiastics. 

When  Franklin  appeared  on  the  scene  with 
his  interest  in  electricity,  about  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  far  from  opening  up  a 
new  subject  then  or  even  one  of  which  his  par- 
ticular generation  had  not  been  interested,  as  is 

1 The  Letter  of  Petrus  Peregrinus  on  the  Magnet 
(A.  D.  1869),  translated  by  Brother  Arnold,  M.Sc., 
Principal  of  La  Salle  Institute,  Troy,  with  Introductory 
Notice  by  Brother  Potamian,  Professor  of  Physics  in 
Manhattan  College,  N.  Y. 

8 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


so  often  thought,  he  had  really  taken  up  a 
branch  of  science  that  had  attracted  no  little 
attention  from  the  men  of  immediately  preced- 
ing generations.  Anyone  who  wishes  to  realize 
this  should  consult  the  History  and  Present  State 
of  Electricity , with  Original  Experiments , written 
by  the  famous  English  scientist  Joseph  Priestley 
to  whom  we  owe  the  discovery  of  oxygen  and 
most  of  our  knowledge  with  regard  to  oxidation 
processes.  The  original  edition  of  this  History 
of  Electricity  l which  is  in  two  volumes  and  con- 
tains altogether  nearly  one  thousand  pages  of 
printed  matter,  probably  over  250,000  words  of 
writing,  was  issued  in  1757.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  Franklin's  kite  experiments  were 
made  about  1750  and  that  his  work  in  electricity 
attracted  attention  in  Europe  during  this  sixth 
decade  of  the  eighteenth  century.  How  lively 
was  the  interest  in  the  subject  of  electricity  can 
be  best  appreciated  very  probably  from  the  fact 
that  a second  edition  of  Priestley's  History  was 
called  for  within  three  years,  and  that  a third 
was  issued  in  1775.  This  history  indeed  gave 
him  almost  more  of  the  reputation  as  a scientist 

1 The  History  and  Present  State  of  Electricity,  with 
Original  Experiments,  by  Joseph  Priestley,  LL.D., 
F.R.S.  The  Third  edition  corrected  and  enlarged. 
Causa  latet,  vis  est  notissima.  Ovid.  Vol.  I.  London, 
Printed  for  C.  Bathurst,  and  T.  Lowndes,  in  Fleet- 
Street ; J.  Rivington  and  J.  Johnson,  in  St.  Paul’s 
Churchyard;  S.  Crowder,  G.  Robinson,  and  R.  Bald- 
win, in  Paternoster  Row  ; T.  Becket,  and  T.  Cadell,  in 
the  Strand.  MDCCLXXV. 


9 


♦ 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 

which  he  enjoyed  when  he  came  to  this  country 
than  did  his  original  work  in  chemistry. 

The  most  distinguished  of  these  clergymen 
pioneers  in  electricity  was  undoubtedly  Giovanni 
Battista  Beccaria,  who  was  distinguished  not 
only  for  his  work  in  electricity,  but  also  for  his 
devotion  to  practical  astronomy,  and  his  contri- 
butions to  the  physical  sciences,  in  matters  re- 
lated to  both  these  subjects.  He  was  born  at 
Mondovi,  a small  town  situated  in  the  Province 
of  Cuneo  in  Northern  Italy  and  not  far  from  the 
French  border.  A battle  was  fought  in  this 
neighborhood,  some  80  years  after  his  birth 
which  makes  the  name  of  the  town  more  familiar 
than  it  otherwise  would  be.  Beccaria  was  born 
7 October,  1716,  and  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen 
entered  the  religious  order  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Pious  Schools.  He  was  looked  upon  as  a very 
promising  student,  and  was  given  special  oppor- 
tunities to  devote  himself  to  favorite  branches. 
Curious  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  think  of 
the  teaching  of  science  as  a comparatively 
modern  introduction  into  schools,  and  especially 
Catholic  schools,  Beccaria  received  special  train- 
ing to  become  a professor  of  experimental 
physics. 

He  was  given  a professorship  in  this,  in  con- 
nexion with  his  own  order,  first  at  Palermo  in 
Sicily  and  later  at  Rome.  At  the  early  age  of 
twenty-two  he  was  transferred  to  a similar  posi- 
tion, but  of  more  importance  from  an  educa- 
tional standpoint,  at  Turin.  While  here  he  was 
10 


1 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


* 


asked  to  become  the  tutor  to  the  young:  princes 
of  Chablais  and  de  Carignan.  As  a consequence 
of  this  official  position,  though  it  was  the  cus- 
tom of  his  order  to  transfer  teachers  from  one 
school  to  another  after  intervals  of  a few  years, 
Beccaria  was  not  moved  from  Turin  for  many 
years  and  it  eventually  came  to  be  his  place  of 
residence  for  most  of  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

That  his  scientific  work  soon  began  to  attract 
world-wide  attention  will  perhaps  best  be  appre- 
ciated from  the  fact  that  in  May,  1775,  when  he 
was  not  yet  forty  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London.  This 
was  a much  envied  distinction  at  the  time  and 
one  not  usually  conferred  on  any  except  those 
who  had  done  distinctly  original  work  of  a high 
order  in  science.  As  a consequence  of  his  elec- 
tion Father  Beccaria  communicated  several  im- 
portant papers  relating  to  his  investigation  into 
electricity  and  various  astronomical  subjects 
directly  to  the  Royal  Society  and  these  gave 
him  a further  reputation  among  English-speak- 
ing people. 

No  great  discovery  in  physical  science  is  at- 
tached to  his  name,  but  few  men  did  as  much  as 
he  did  to  awaken  enthusiasm  for  experimental 
investigation  into  science  in  his  time,  and  thus 
he  was  an  active  factor  in  bringing  about  the 
marvelous  burst  of  progress  in  the  physical  sci- 
ences generally,  which  came  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  is  this  which  so  successfully  ushered 


t 


11 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


in  the  modern  scientific  era  of  which  we  are  so 
proud. 

The  value  of  his  observations  have  been  uni- 
versally acknowledged.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  what  he  accomplished  with  regard  to 
the  relation  of  electricity  to  meteorological  phe- 
nomena practically  laid  the  foundation  of  a new 
science  of  meteorology.  In  his  masterly  article 
on  electricity  in  the  eighth  volume  of  the  ninth 
edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica , which  is 
often  referred  to  as  a compendious  authoritative 
review  of  the  development,  Professor  George 
Chrystal,  the  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  the 
University  of  St.  Andrews,  Edinburgh,  has 
summed  up  Father  Beccaria’s  contributions  to 
electricity  and  meteorology.  The  thoroughly 
conservative  character  of  Professor  Chrystal’s 
judgment  makes  it  clear  how  distinguished  is  the 
place  that  Father  Beccaria  must  be  considered 
to  hold  in  the  history  of  these  sciences  : 

Beccaria,  a celebrated  Italian  physicist,  kept  up  the 
spirit  of  electrical  discovery  in  Italy.  He  showed  that 
water  is  a very  imperfect  conductor  of  electricity,  that  its 
conducting  power  is  proportional  to  its  quantity,  and  that 
a small  quantity  of  water  opposes  a powerful  resistance 
to  the  passage  of  electricity.  He  succeeded  in  making 
the  electric  spark  visible  in  water  by  discharging  shocks 
through  wires  that  nearly  met  in  tubes  filled  with  water. 
In  this  experiment  the  tubes,  though  sometimes  eight  or 
ten  lines  thick,  were  burst  into  pieces.  Beccaria  like- 
wise demonstrated  that  air  adjacent  to  an  electrified 
body  gradually  acquired  the  same  electricity ; that  the 
electricity  of  the  body  is  diminished  by  that  of  air  ; and 
12 


i 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


that  the  air  parts  with  its  electricity  very  slowly.  He 
considered  that  there  was  a mutual  repulsion  between 
the  particles  of  the  electric  fluid  and  those  of  air, 
and  that  in  the  passage  of  the  former  through  the 
latter  a temporary  vacuum  was  formed.  Beccaria’s  ex- 
periments on  atmospherical  electricity  are  of  the  great- 
est interest  to  the  meteorologist. 

In  his  History  of  Electricity  already  mentioned, 
the  first  edition  of  which  it  may  be  recalled  was 
issued  two  years  after  Father  Beccaria’s  election 
as  a Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London, 
Mr.  Priestley,  who  always  calls  him  Signior 
Beccaria,  says  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent of  all  the  electricians  abroad,  that  is,  on 
the  Continent.  He  describes  some  of  Father 
Beccaria’s  experiments  on  air  and  its  relations 
to  electricity,  and  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
he  had  arranged  his  experiments  for  this  matter 
very  ingeniously  or,  as  Priestley  puts  it,  “in  a 
pleasing  and  satisfactory  manner.”  Priestley 
was  so  taken  with  the  experiments  arranged  by 
the  Italian  clerical  observer  that  he  gives  them 
in  considerable  detail.  Because  his  description 
serves  to  bring  out  the  thoroughly  experimental 
character  of  the  work  at  a time  when  habits  of 
experiment  are  supposed  to  have  been  uncom- 
mon and  most  of  all  among  clergymen,  it  has 
seemed  worth  while  to  reproduce  here  what 
Priestley  says : 

Beccaria  proves  that  the  air,  which  is  contiguous  to 
an  electrified  body,  acquires  by  degrees  the  same  elec- 
tricity ; that  this  electricity  of  the  air  counteracts  that  of 
13 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


the  body,  and  lessens  its  effects,  and  that  as  the  air  ac- 
quires, so  it  also  parts  with  this  electricity  very  slowly. 

He  began  his  experiments  by  hanging  his  linen 
threads  upon  an  electrified  chain  and  observing  that 
they  diverged  the  most  after  a few  turns  of  his  globe. 
After  that  they  came  nearer  together,  notwithstanding 
he  kept  turning  the  globe  and  the  excitation  was  as 
powerful  as  ever. 

When  he  had  kept  the  chain  electrified  a considerable 
time,  and  then  discontinued  the  friction,  the  threads 
collapsed  by  degrees,  till  they  hung  parallel,  and  then 
began  to  diverge  again  as  before.  Thus  the  second  di- 
vergence of  the  threads  took  place,  when  the  chain  was 
deprived  of  its  electricity,  and  when  that  wThich  the  air 
had  acquired  began  to  show  itself. 

While  the  threads  were  beginning  to  diverge  with  the 
electricity  of  the  air,  if  he  touched  the  chain,  and 
thereby  took  off  what  remained  of  its  electricity,  the 
threads  would  separate  farther.  Thus  the  more  the 
electricity  of  the  chain  was  lessened,  the  more  did  the 
electricity  of  the  air  appear. 

While  the  threads  were  in  their  second  divergence  he 
hung  two  other  threads  shorter  than  the  former  by  an- 
other silk  thread  to  the  chain;  and  wThen  all  the  elec- 
tricity of  the  chain  was  taken  quite  away,  they  would 
separate  like  the  former  threads. 

If  he  presented  other  threads  to  the  former,  in  their 
second  divergence,  they  would  all  avoid  one  another. 

In  this  complete  and  elegant  manner  did  Signior 
Beccaria  demonstrate  that  air  actually  receives  electricity 
by  communication,  and  loses  it  by  degrees;  and  then 
the  electricity  of  the  air  counteracts  that  of  the  body 
which  conveys  electricity  to  it. 

Signior  Beccaria  also  made  a variety  of  other  experi- 
ments which  demonstrate  other  mutual  affections  of  the 
air  and  the  electric  fluid,  particularly  some  that  prove 
their  mutual  repulsion,  and  that  the  electric  fluid  in 
passing  through  any  portion  of  air  makes  a temporary 

T4 


vacuum . 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


He  brought  the  ends  of  two  wires  within  a small  dis- 
tance of  one  another,  in  a glass  tube,  one  end  of  which 
was  closed  and  the  other  immerged  in  water,  and  ob- 
served that  the  water  sunk  in  the  tube  every  time  that  a 
spark  passed  from  the  one  to  the  other,  the  electric  fluid 
having  repelled  the  air. 

Some  further  variations  in  his  methods  of  ex- 
periment show  at  once  Father  Beccaria’s  in- 
genuity of  mind  and  also  how  persistent  he  was 
in  putting  questions  to  nature.  This  is  perhaps 
even  better  illustrated  in  Father  Beccaria’s  ex- 
periments on  water  than  in  those  with  regard  to 
air.  Priestley  has  once  more  expressed  his  ad- 
miration for  the  work  done  in  this  line  and  has 
given  an  excellent  resume  of  what  the  Italian 
clergyman-scientist  succeeded  in  discovering. 
His  account  is  so  compressed,  yet  so  clear,  it 
represents  so  well  the  significance  of  Father 
Beccaria’s  experiments  as  seen  from  the  stand- 
point of  a contemporary,  and  makes  so  clear  the 
interest  which  all  this  experimental  science  was 
arousing  all  over  Europe,  that  I venture  to 
make  another  rather  lengthy  quotation  from 
Priestley: 

Signior  Beccaria’s  experiments  on  the  water,  showing 
its  imperfections  as  a conductor,  are  more  surprising 
than  those  he  made  upon  air,  showing  its  imperfections 
in  the  contrary  respect.  They  prove  that  water  conducts 
electricity  according  to  its  quantity,  and  that  a small 
quantity  of  water  makes  a very  great  resistance  to  the 
passage  of  the  electric  fluid. 

He  made  tubes  full  of  water  part  of  the  electric  circuit, 
and  observed  that  when  they  were  very  small  they  would 

IS 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


not  transmit  a shock,  but  that  the  shock  increased  as 
wider  tubes  were  used. 

But  what  astonishes  us  most  in  Signior  Beccaria’s  ex- 
periments with  water  is  his  making  the  electric  spark 
visible  in  it,  notwithstanding  its  being  a real  conductor 
of  electricity.  Nothing,  however,  can  prove  more  clearly 
how  imperfect  a conductor  it  is. 

He  inserted  wires,  so  far  as  nearly  to  meet,  in  small 
tubes  filled  with  water,  and,  discharging  shocks  through 
them,  the  electric  spark  was  visible  between  their  points 
as  if  no  water  had  been  in  the  place.  The  tubes  were 
generally  broken  to  pieces,  and  the  fragments  driven  to 
a considerable  distance.  This  was  evidently  occasioned 
by  the  repulsion  of  the  water  and  its  compressibility,  it 
not  being  able  to  give  way  far  enough  within  itself,  and 
the  force  with  which  it  was  repelled  being  very  great. 

The  force  with  which  small  quantities  of  water  are 
thus  repelled  by  the  electric  fluid,  he  says,  is  prodigious. 
By  means  of  a charge  of  four  hundred  square  inches  he 
broke  a glass  tube  two  lines  thick,  when  the  pieces  were 
driven  to  the  distance  of  twenty  feet.  Nay,  he  some- 
times broke  tubes  eight  or  ten  lines  thick,  and  fragments 
were  driven  to  greater  distances  in  proportion. 

He  found  the  effect  of  the  electric  spark  upon  water 
greater  than  the  effect  of  a spark  of  common  fire  on 
gunpowder ; and  he  says  he  does  not  doubt  but  that,  if  a 
method  could  be  found  of  managing  them  equally  well, 
a cannon  charged  with  water  would  be  more  dreadful 
than  one  charged  with  gunpowder.  He  actually  charged 
a glass  tube  with  water,  and  put  a small  ball  into  it, 
when  it  was  discharged  with  great  force,  so  as  to  bury 
itself  in  some  clay  which  he  had  placed  to  receive  it. 

After  Father  Beccaria,  the  most  distinguished 
experimental  scientist  in  electrical  matters  dur- 
ing the  eighteenth  century  was  the  Abbe  Nollet, 
who  is  famous  for  his  series  of  experiments  on 
the  effects  of  electricity  on  animals  and  plants  at 
16 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


this  time.  Priestley  concedes  the  priority  in  this 
field  of  investigation  to  Abbe  Nollet,  and  says 
that  the  English  philosophers  who  led  the  way 
in  almost  every  other  application  of  electricity 
were  among  the  last  to  try  its  effects  upon  ani- 
mals and  other  organized  bodies.  Nollet  began 
his  experiments  in  this  department  by  studying 
first  the  evaporation  of  fluids  by  electricity. 
The  conclusions  which  he  reached  from  his  ex- 
periments are  quoted  in  full  in  his  own  words  in 
Priestley,  and  give  the  best  possible  idea  of  how 
patient  must  have  been  his  investigation,  how 
ingenious  his  methods  of  experimentation,  and 
how  carefully  his  observations  were  controlled 
before  he  ventured  to  give  them  forth  as  having 
scientific  value.  They  illustrate  beyond  per- 
adventure  that  the  experimental  method  and  the 
experimental  temperament  are  not  things  of  the 
very  recent  time,  and  that  they  are  by  no  means 
incompatible  with  a clergyman’s  education  or 
his  faith. 

Electricity  augments  the  natural  evaporation  of  fluids; 
since,  excepting  mercury,  which  is  too  heavy,  and  the 
oil  of  olives,  which  is  too  viscous,  all  the  others  which 
are  tried  suffered  a diminution  which  could  not  be  as- 
cribed to  any  other  cause  than  electricity. 

Electricity  augments  the  evaporation  of  those  fluids 
the  most  which  are  most  subject  to  evaporate  of  them- 
selves. For  the  volatile  spirit  of  sal  ammoniac  suffered 
a greater  loss  than  spirit  of  wine  or  turpentine ; these 
two  more  than  common  water,  and  water  more  than 
vinegar  or  the  solution  of  nitre. 

Electricity  has  a greater  effect  upon  fluids  when  the 
vessels  which  contain  them  are  non-electrics,  the  effects 
I? 


t 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


always  seeming  to  be  a little  greater  when  the  vessels 
were  of  metal  than  when  they  were  of  glass. 

This  increased  evaporation  was  more  considerable 
when  the  vessel  which  contained  the  liquor  was  more 
open,  but  the  effects  did  not  increase  in  proportion  to 
their  apertures.  For  when  these  liquors  were  electrified 
in  vessels  whose  aperture  was  four  inches  in  diameter, 
though  they  presented  to  the  air  a surface  sixteen  times 
larger  than  when  they  were  contained  in  vessels  whose 
aperture  wras  one  inch  in  diameter,  they  were,  neverthe- 
less, far  from  suffering  a diminution  proportioned  to  that 
difference. 

Electrification  does  not  make  any  liquors  evaporate 
through  the  pores,  either  of  metal  or  of  glass,  since  after 
experiments  which  were  continued  ten  hours  there  was 
found  no  diminution  of  their  weight  when  the  vessels  in 
which  they  were  contained  were  well  stopped. 

Abbe  Nollet’s  years  ran  almost  coincident 
with  the  eighteenth  century.  He  was  born  at 
Pimprez  in  what  is  now  the  district  of  Oise,  in 
1700,  and,  like  man}'  another  distinguished  ob- 
server in  physical  science,  lived  to  fill  out  sev- 
enty years  of  studious  life.  He  was  born  of 
poor  parents,  and  owed  his  opportunity  to  re- 
ceive an  education  to  the  fact  that  his  parish 
priest  became  interested  in  him,  and  that  he  was 
educated  at  the  expense  of  the  Church.  How 
much  his  contemporaries,  even  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, thought  of  him  can  be  judged  from  his 
election  to  the  London  Royal  Society  in  1734, 
when  he  was  not  yet  thirty-five  years  of  age. 
Just  before  his  fiftieth  birthday  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris. 
These  distinctions  were  for  work  done  in  elec- 
18 


i 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


tricity  before  Franklin  took  up  the  subject.  It 
is  not  surprising-,  then,  that  the  genial  Abbe  was 
appointed  to  a newly-erected  chair  of  experi- 
mental physics,  in  the  college  of  Navarre  in 
Paris,  in  1753.  He  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
most  popular  writers  on  science  during  the  cen- 
tury. He  did  more  than  perhaps  any  other  to 
make  the  general  public  realize  how  much  was 
being  done,  all  over  the  world,  for  the  progress 
of  electricity,  and  to  give  them  an  interest  in 
various  phases  of  electrical  science.  In  the  his- 
torical Introduction  to  his  article  on  electricity 
in  the  Encyclopedia  Briiannica , Professor  Chrys- 
tal  of  Saint  Andrews,  whom  we  have  already 
quoted  with  regard  to  Father  Beccaria,  gives 
Abbe  Nollet  a merited  place  among  the  investi- 
gators of  electricity  just  before  and  after  Frank- 
lin’s time.  Those  who  think  that  Franklin’s 
writings  were  pioneer  publications  in  this  field 
will  probably  be  not  a little  surprised  here  to 
learn  that  Nollet’s  Essai  sur  V Electricity  was 
published  in  1746,  and  that  his  Richer ches , con- 
taining many  additional  articles  on  the  same 
subject,  was  published  in  1749.  The  year  1750 
is  sometimes  said  to  be  a landmark  which  rep- 
resents the  beginning  of  modern  electricitjq  but 
this  is  only  true  if  we  neglect  a series  of  import- 
ant communications  made  before  that,  and  in- 
deed Franklin’s  work,  as  we  have  already  said, 
was  only  a manifestation  in  America  of  an  en- 
thusiasm for  electrical  studies  which  had  been 
awakened  in  every  country  in  Europe  toward 
the  end  of  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

19 


t 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 

It  was  not  alone  on  full-grown  and  highly- 
organized  living  things  that  Abbe  Nollet  made 
his  experiments,  but  also  on  seeds  and  plants  in 
the  process  of  growth.  These  experiments  have 
been  confirmed  by  many  later  observers,  and 
the  French  clergyman’s  originality  rendered 
them  all  the  more  impressive  by  the  fact  that 
very  little  has  been  added  by  the  knowledge  to 
which  we  have  attained  in  this  matter.  I am 
indebted  once  more  to  Priestley  for  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  observations.  Perhaps  the  most  in- 
teresting feature  of  this  paragraph  of  Priestley’s 
account  is  his  emphasis  on  the  caution  exercised 
by  the  French  clergyman-naturalist  to  be  abso- 
lutely sure  of  his  conclusions  before  he  an- 
nounced them  as  definitely  certain.  A little 
more  of  this  same  spirit,  it  might  strike  the 
modern  student  of  physical  science,  would  be  an 
excellent  thing  for  many  of  our  experimentalists 
of  the  present  day.  It  seems  as  though  it  might 
be  a decided  advantage  for  a man  to  have  a 
good  training  in  matters  of  conscience,  before 
taking  up  physical  science,  to  make  him  more 
careful  of  his  declarations  and  keep  him  from 
rushing  into  print  with  half-baked  conclusions 
announced  as  certain,  when  they  are  only  chance 
observations  that  further  investigation  so  often 
shows  to  be  founded  on  false  assumptions. 

He  took  two  garden-pots  filled  with  the  same  earth 
and  sowed  with  the  same  seeds.  He  kept  them  con- 
stantly in  the  same  place  and  took  the  same  care  of 
them,  except  that  one  of  the  two  was  electrified  fifteen 
20 


< 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


days  together  for  two  or  three,  and  sometimes  four, 
hours  a day.  The  consequence  was  that  the  electrified 
pot  always  showed  the  sprouts  of  its  seed  two  or  three 
days  sooner  than  the  other.  It  also  threw  out  a greater 
number  of  shoots,  and  those  longer  in  a given  time; 
which  made  him  believe  that  the  electric  virtue  helped 
to  open  and  display  the  germs,  and  thereby  to  facilitate 
the  growth  of  plants.  This,  however,  our  cautious 
philosopher  only  calls  a conjecture  which  required 
further  confirmation.  The’ season,  he  says,  was  then 
too  far  advanced  to  allow  him  to  make  as  many  experi- 
ments as  he  could  have  wished,  but  he  says  the  next 
course  of  experiments  had  greater  certainty,  and  they 
are  not  less  interesting. 

Some  of  his  experiments  on  growing-  vegetables 
show  with  what  care  he  investigated  these  prob- 
lems that  he  had  taken  up  and  at  the  same  time 
illustrate  his  methods  of  work.  Priestley  says 
that : 

He  electrified  for  four  or  five  hours  together  fruit, 
green  plants,  and  sponges  dipped  in  water,  which  he  had 
carefully  weighed,  and  found  that,  after  the  experiment, 
all  those  bodies  were  remarkably  lighter  than  others  of 
the  same  kind,  weighed  with  them  both  before  and  after 
the  experiment,  and  kept  in  the  same  place  and  tem- 
perature. 

Undoubtedly  the  most  interesting  discovery 
in  electricity  before  Franklin’s  hypothesis,  and 
the  demonstration  as  to  the  identity  of  lightning 
and  electricity  was  that  of  the  Leyden  Jar.  Like 
many  another  discovery  in  science  the  name  is 
a misnomer.  It  was  called  the  Leyden  Jar  or 
Phial,  because  originally  supposed  to  have  been 
made  by  Mr.  Cuneus,  a native  of  Leyden,  who 
21 


« 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 

was  repeating  some  experiments  which  he  had 
seen  performed  by  Professors  Muschenboeck  and 
Alamand  in  the  famous  university  of  that  town. 
The  discovery  of  the  principle  on  which  the  Ley- 
den Jar  is  founded  is  now  generally  acknowl- 
edged to  have  been  made  by  Dean  Von  Kleist 
of  the  Cathedral  of  Kammin,  which,  however, 
Priestley  in  his  History  calls  Camin.  Kammin 
is  a little  town  in  the  Province  of  Pomerania,  in 
the  distant  Eastern  part  of  Prussia,  not  far  from 
the  Baltic  Sea,  and  situated  on  what  was  called 
the  Kammin  Boden  near  the  River  Dievenow. 
It  is  about  forty  miles  from  Stettin,  and  prob- 
ably never  has  had  more  than  the  number  of  in- 
habitants which  it  possesses  at  the  present  time, 
about  S,ooo.  In  the  section  of  his  History  of 
Electricity  which  concerns  the  history  of  the 
Leyden  Phial  itself  till  Dr.  Franklin's  discov- 
eries relating  to  it,  Priestley  tells  the  story  of 
Pean  Von  Kleist's  discovery  in  the  observant 
clergyman's  own  words.  These  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Register  of  the  Academy  at  Berlin,  to 
which  Von  Kleist's  paper  had  been  communi- 
cated by  the  well-known  Dr.  Lieberkuhn,  of 
Berlin,  to  whom  on  the  fourth  of  November, 
177 5,  Von  Kleist  sent  the  following  account  of 
his  discoveries  with  regard  to  the  accumulation 
of  electricity,  and  the  serious  effects  produced, 
by  taking  a shock  of  it  when  thus  accumulated. 
This  account  runs  as  follows : 

When  a nail,  or  a piece  of  thick  brass  wire,  etc.,  is 
put  into  a small  apothecary's  phial  and  electrified,  re- 
22 


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PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


markable  effects  follow,  but  the  phial  must  be  very  dry 
or  warm.  I commonly  rub  it  over  beforehand  with  a 
finger  on  which  I put  some  pounded  chalk.  If  a little 
mercury  or  a few  drops  of  spirit  of  wine  be  put  into  it 
the  experiment  succeeds  the  better.  As  soon  as  this 
phial  and  nail  are  removed  from  the  electrifying  glass, 
or  the  prime  conductor  to  which  it  had  been  exposed  is 
taken  away,  it  throws  out  a pencil  of  flame  so  long  that, 
with  this  burning  machine  in  my  hand,  I have  taken 
above  sixty  steps  in  walking  about  my  room.  When  it 
is  electrified  strongly  I can  take  it  into  another  room 
and  there  fire  spirits  of  wine  with  it.  If,  while  it  is 
electrifying,  I put  my  finger  on  a piece  of  gold,  which  I 
hold  in  my  hand  to  the  nail,  I receive  a shock  which 
stuns  my  arms  and  shoulders. 

It  is  rather  amusing-,  in  the  light  of  what  we 
know  now  of  the  effects  of  even  a severe  shock 
from  a Leyden  Jar,  to  read  the  accounts  of  the 
symptoms  noted  in  themselves  by  the  early  ob- 
servers who  received  shocks  from  it.  Imagina- 
tion evidently  played  a large  role  in  the  matter. 
Winckler  of  Leipzig  said  that  the  first  time  he 
tried  the  jar  he  found  great  convulsions  by  it  in 
his  body;  it  put  his  blood  into  great  agitation ; 
he  was  afraid  of  an  ardent  fever,  and  was  obliged 
to  use  refrigerating  medicines.  He  felt  a heavi- 
ness in  his  head  as  if  a stone  lay  upon  it.  Twice 
it  gave  him  a bleeding  at  the  nose.  After  the 
second  shock  his  wife  could  scarcely  walk,  and 
though  a week  later,  her  curiosity  stronger  than 
her  fears,  she  tried  it  once  more,  it  caused  her 
to  bleed  at  the  nose  only  after  taking  it  once. 
Many  men  were  terrified  by  it,  and  even  serious 
professors  describe  entirely  imaginary  symptoms. 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


The  jar  was  taken  around  Europe  for  exhibition 
purposes  and  did  more  to  awaken  popular  in- 
terest than  all  the  publications  of  the  learned 
with  regard  to  electricity,  in  all  the  preceding 
centuries.  Such  is  the  way  of  the  world. 

The  French  were  more  interested  in  science 
than  the  Germans,  however,  at  this  time. 
Another  French  clergyman  who  experimented 
on  the  effects  of  electricity  upon  living  things 
during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  the  Abbe  Menon,  principal  of  the  College  of 
Bueil  at  Angers.  Abbe  Menon  reached  the 
same  conclusions  as  his  more  distinguished 
French  colleague,  Abbe  Nollet.  His  experi- 
ments are  mentioned  by  Priestley  (Vol.  I,  p. 
173)  and  have  a special  interest  of  their  own. 
Abbe  Menon  experimented  with  many  familiar 
animals  and  birds.  He  found  that  cats,  pigeons, 
and  sparrows  lost  weight  when  they  were  con- 
stantly under  the  influence  of  electrification  for 
six  hours  or  more.  He  also  discovered  that  the 
same  thing  seemed  to  be  true  of  larger  animals, 
and  especially  human  beings.  Instead  of  con- 
cluding as  might  be  expected  in  a period  of  such 
intense  interest  in  electricity  that  this  was  due 
to  some  marvelous  esoteric  influence  of  electrical 
forces  on  tissues  within  the  body,  or  important 
vital  processes,  he  suggested  with  a scientific 
conservatism  very  creditable  at  that  period  that 
the  reason  for  the  loss  in  weight  was  nothing 
more  than  an  increase  in  the  insensible  perspira- 
tion of  animals.  This  very  cautious  conclusion 
24 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


has  been  confirmed  by  subsequent  investigations,. 
Abbe  Menon’s  conservative  declaration  can 
scarcely  help  but  draw  additional  admiration  to 
him  since  it  was  an  anticipation  in  physiology, 
to  some  extent  at  least,  as  well  as  in  electricity. 

One  of  the  very  interesting  men  whose  name 
must  be  mentioned  in  the  history  of  electricity 
at  this  time,  though  Priestley  does  not  devote 
very  much  space  to  his  work,  is  Professor 
George  Gordon  of  Erfurt,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  a Scotch  Benedictine  monk.  Professor 
Gordon  occupied  the  chair  of  philosophy  at  the 
University  of  Erfurt,  and  he  was  the  first  to  use 
a cylinder  of  glass  in  order  to  produce  frictional 
electricity.  With  these  cylinders  he  was  able  to 
produce  sparks  for  experimental  purposes  much 
more  readily  and  with  more  constancy,  and  in 
more  available  form,  than  had  been  the  case  be- 
fore. His  invention  added  not  a little  to  the 
possibilities  of  experimental  electricity,  since  by 
its  means  it  was  possible  to  have  a rather  uni- 
form source  of  electricity  for  experimental  pur- 
poses even  on  unfavorable  days.  Besides,  his 
instrument  was  portable,  and  instead  of  a cake 
of  resin  he  insulated  by  means  of  a frame  fur- 
nished with  a network  of  silk. 

Perhaps  in  nothing  will  his  ingenuity  be  better 
realized  than  by  a recital  of  the  story  which  is 
told  of  his  extension  of  the  sources  of  electricity 
available  for  experimental  purposes  in  the  labor- 
atory into  the  animal  world.  On  one  occasion, 
having  realized  by  observations  made  before 
25 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


that  the  animal's  fur  could  by  appropriate  rub- 
bing- in  favorable  weather  be  made  to  exhibit 
very  pronounced  electrical  phenomena,  he  ex- 
cited the  electricity  of  “ a harmless  necessary 
cat  ” so  strongly  that  when  it  was  conveyed  by 
means  of  an  iron  conductor  to  a little  distance 
from  the  animal,  it  fired  spirits  of  wine.  A 
favorite  method  of  experimentation  at  this  time, 
and  one  which  had  been  introduced  to  a consid- 
erable extent  by  Gordon,  was  the  determination 
of  what  substances  could  be  set  on  fire  by  means 
of  electric  sparks.  Winckler,  for  instance,  had 
succeeded  in  setting-  fire  to  French  brandy,  b)^ 
means  of  a spark  from  his  fing-er  when  he  him- 
self was  strongly  electrified.  Professor  Gordon 
did  the  still  more  surprising  thing  of  kindling 
spirits  by  means  of  a jet  of  electrified  water, 
though  the  water  itself  remained  cold,  of  course, 
and  was  apparently  unaffected  by  the  presence 
of  electricity  in  it.  In  a word  this  Scotch  Bene- 
dictine was  another  of  those  inquiring  minds 
who  in  the  garb  of  monks  and  priests  did  ex- 
perimental work  of  a high  order  during  the 
decade  or  two  just  before  Franklin's  discovery, 
and  led  up  to  the  development  of  electricity  which 
came  during  the  subsequent  century  and  a half. 

Nor  did  the  interest  of  Catholic  clergymen  in 
the  science  of  electricity,  nor  their  success  in 
bringing  about  new  developments  of  it,  cease 
after  the  discoveries  made  by  Franklin  and  the 
wide  extension  of  the  interest  in  the  science 
which  brought  so  many  investigators  into  the 
26 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


field.  Volta,  who  did  so  much  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth,  had  been  a clerical  student  and  re- 
mained all  during  his  life  in  close  touch  with  his 
clerical  friends.  Galvani,  who  because  of  his 
delicacy  of  conscience  which  made  him  refuse  to 
take  the  oath  to  the  new  government  that  had 
been  established  in  Italy  with  the  connivance  of 
Napoleon,  was  said  to  be  more  a monk  than  a 
layman,  and  who  was  indeed  buried  in  the  habit 
of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis,  is  another  of 
the  distinguished  contributors  to  the  science  at 
this  time.  The  third  great  name  in  science  at 
the  end  of  the  century  is  that  of  the  Abbe  Haiiy, 
better  known  as  the  Father  of  Crystallography 
than  for  his  contributions  to  electrical  science, 
but  whose  investigations  into  the  property  of 
crystals  and  certain  electrical  phenomena  which 
they  display  under  varying  conditions  of  temper- 
ature, merited  for  him  also  the  title  of  the  father 
of  pyro-electricity.  Professor  Chrystal  in  the 
introduction  to  his  article  on  Electricity  in  the 
Encyclopedia  Britannica  (Ninth  Edition)  in  the 
historical  review  of  the  development  of  the 
science  says: 

But  it  was  reserved  for  the  Abbe  Haiiy  to  throw  a 
clear  light  on  this  curious  branch  of  the  science.  He 
found  that  the  electricity  of  the  tourmaline  decreased 
rapidly  from  the  summits  or  poles  towards  the  center- 
middle  of  the  center  of  the  crystal,  where  it  was  impercep- 
tible; and  he  discovered  that  when  a tourmaline  is  broken 
into  any  number  of  fragments,  each  fragment  when  ex- 
cited has  two  opposite  poles.  Haiiy  discovered  the  same 
27 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 


property  in  the  Siberian  and  Brazilian  topaz,  borage  of 
magnesia,  mesotype,  prehnite,  sphene  and  calamine. 
He  also  found  that  the  polarity  which  minerals  receive 
from  heat  has  a relation  to  the  secondary  forms  of  their 
crystals — the  tourmaline,  for  example,  having  its  resin- 
ous pole  at  the  summit  of  the  crystal  which  has  three 
faces  and  its  vitreous  pole  at  the  summit  which  has  six 
faces.  In  the  other  pyro-electrical  crystals  above  men- 
tioned Haiiy  detected  the  same  deviation  from  the  rules 
of  symmetry  in  their  secondary  crystals  which  occurs  in 
tourmaline. 

Indeed  this  chapter  of  what  Catholic  clergy- 
men accomplished  for  the  developing  science  of 
electricity,  before  it  became  the  formal  depart- 
ment of  knowledge  which  was  to  be  studied  in 
the  universities  and  be  the  subject  of  academic 
attention  generally,  is  the  best  possible  proof  of 
the  readiness  of  the  clerical  mind  to  follow  clues 
of  original  investigation  in  the  problems  of 
nature  and  to  turn  quite  naturally  to  nature 
study.  In  their  hours  of  leisure  these  men  de- 
veloped a deep  interest  in  the  wonderful  phe- 
nomena of  magnetism  and  electrical  manifesta- 
tions generally.  They  set  themselves  to  find 
the  reason  for  these  manifestations  and  so  laid 
the  foundation  of  our  modern  electricity.  To 
them  more  than  to  any  other  set  of  men,  even 
the  university  professors  of  the  time,  is  due  its 
development.  They  could  not  have  employed 
their  leisure  more  interestingly  for  themselves 
nor  as  the  outcome  proved  more  beneficially  for 
mankind.  This  chapter  in  the  development  of 
electrical  science  should  be  a definite  response  to 
28 


c 


PRIESTS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  ELECTRICITY 

the  argument  so  often  advanced  that  clergymen 
are  prevented  by  their  acceptance  of  so  many 
truths  on  faith  from  having  such  an  openness  of 
mind  as  would  enable  them  to  be  original  dis- 
coverers or  investigators  in  science.  The  very 
opposite  proves  to  be  the  case,  for  in  proportion 
to  their  numbers  more  of  them  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  asking  of  questions  of  nature  than 
from  among  any  other  class  of  educated  people 
of  the  time. 


29 


t 


« 


List  of  the  Educational  Briefs 


No.  1.  January , 1903 

M.  Gabriel  Compayre  as  a Historian  of  Pedagogy 

BROTHER  AZARIAS,  F.S.C. 

No.  2.  April , 1903 

The  Social  Bearing  of  Elementary  Instruction 

THE  REV.  W.  POLAND,  S.J. 

No.  3 . July , 790J 

Elementary  Schools  and  Religious  Education 
of  the  People 

JOANNES  JANSSEN 

No.  4.  October , 790J 

The  “Original  Sources’ ’ of  European  PIistory 

THE  REV.  HUGH  T.  HENRY,  LITT.D. 

No.  5.  January , 1904 

The  Training  of  the  Teacher 

THE  VERY  REV.  JAMES  A.  BURNS,  C.S.C.,  PH.D. 

No.  6.  April , 1904 

Catholicity  and  Civilization 

THE  VERY  REV.  THOMAS  BOUQUILLON,  D.D. 

No.  7.  July , 1904 

Old  Times  in  the  Colonies 

THE  REV.  HUGH  T.  HENRY,  LITT.D. 

No.  8.  October , 1904 

Catechetics 

THE  REV.  MICHAEL  F.  CLANCEY 

No.  9.  January , 1905 

History  in  Our  Public  Schools 

THE  REV.  FRANCIS  F.  DONNELLY,  S.J. 

No.  10.  April , 1905 

The  Social  State  of  Catholic  Countries 
No  Prejudice  to  the  Sanctity  of  the  Church 

JOHN  HENRY  CARDINAL  NEWMAN 

No.  11.  July , 1905 

The  Religious  State  of  Catholic  Countries 
No  Prejudice  to  the  Sanctity  of  the  Church 

JOHN  HENRY  CARDINAL  NEWMAN 

No.  12.  October , 1905 

Modern  Psychology  and  Cx\tholic  Education 

THE  REV.  EDWARD  A.  PACE,  PH.D. 


No.  13.  January , 1906 

Boards  of  Education  and  Historical  Truth 


Chiefly  Among  Women 

MRS.  MARGARET  SULLIVAN 

No.  14.  April , 1906 

The  Primary  School  in  the  Middle  Ages 

BROTHER  AZARIAS,  F.S.C. 

No.  15.  July . 1906 

The  Notion  of  Morality 

THE  VERY  REV.  JOHN  T.  DRISCOLL,  S.T.L. 

No.  16.  October , 1906 

Cloistral  Schools 

BROTHER  AZARIAS,  F.S.C. 

No.  17.  January , 1907 

Christian  Family  Life  in  Pre-Reformation  Days 

ABBOT  GASQUET,  O.S.B. 

No.  18.  April , 1907 

The  “War  Against  Christ' ' in  France 

VANCE  THOMPSON 

The  Pope  and  the  French  Government. 
Who's  to  Blame  ? 

THE  REV.  JOHN  GERARD,  S.J. 

No.  19.  July , 1907 

Catholic  Parish  Schools  in  ihe  United  States 
An  Introductory  Study 

THE  VERY  REV.  JAMES  A.  BURNS,  C.S.C.,  PH.D. 

No.  20.  October , 1907 

The  New  Syllabus.  Its  Meaning  and  Purpose 

THE  REV.  H.  J.  HEUSER,  D.D. 

No.  21.  January , 1908 

Catholic  Colonial  Schools  in  Pennsylvania 

THE  VERY  REV.  JAMES  A.  BURNS,  C.S.C.,  PH.D. 

No.  22.  April , 1908 

Of  a Bull  and  a Comet 

THE  REV.  JOHN  GERARD,  S.J. 


A Saint  Averse  to  Celibacy 

THE  REV.  HERBERT  THURSTON,  S.J. 


“Let  the  adornments  of  home  be  chaste  and  holy  pictures,  and  still  more, 
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